rbowers

I just joined this forum, and am hoping someone can point me somewhere for help.
I have two Belkin(F5D7230-4) wireless 802.11g router/APs. My PC has a Belkin wireless PCI card (F5D7000). [okay, I have other PCs but most are hardwired, 'cept my laptop]
I had problems connecting my PC (a Compaq desktop, WinXP on the 1st floor) to the Belkin AP (2nd floor) so I bought the 2nd Belkin hoping to extend the range of the first one, using it as a wireless repeater. It doesn't work that way, so at the moment, I have cat5e wire stretched between the two, up the stairs, etc.
I placed the new Belkin router 6 feet! from my PC but the PC won't connect to it. But, my PC will connect to a neighbor's AP (and I don't want this, obviously).
Using the Belkin wireless utility, I see the router, and I only configure my own APs, but still I connect to the neighbor. My router has a stronger signal (according to NetStumbler) but I connect to the neighbors' router.
I spent almost two hours on the 'phone with Belkin tech support, and it ended up with them saying "try channel 3, now try channel 6, now try..."
I have not yet set security on the routers (but I changed the password ) and I've set the channel to one several numbers away from the neighbors (Me=chan 1, Neighbor=chan 8 -- BTW, I don't know WHICH neighbor).
Sometimes I even connect to a Linksys router (802.11b on chan 11) with very low signal strength instead of my own.
questions:
Why won't my PC connect to the stronger router?
Why does it connect to the neighbor's D-Link (Acording to the OUI of 00-0F-3D) instead of my Belkin sitting 6' away, when I have a Belkin card in my PC?
Also, the card connects and disconnects continuously. I replaced the F5D7000 card in my PC with the same results. I tried a D-Link PCI card with worse results.
Should I break holes in my walls and wire the first floor?

I know I'm rambling. Sorry. I've been dealing with this issue for over a month and my wife (it's her PC) is getting angry that she can never read her email.
I had the same basic wireless setup in my old house (I moved in July) and had no problems -- and the distance was further and through more walls. This house has a very open setup with few walls, and I have lots of problems. As far as I can tell it uses wood studs, not steel.
Where can I go for help?

itsnotme

(sighs) If you had bothered to read ANY of the other "neighborhood" threads, you would have realized that you can turn off the autoconnect feature in windows. Turn off the WZC in windows and set it to the name of your access point and you'll be done.

Your access point name IS different than your neighbor's right?

streaker69

6 feet is a little too close to your AP and you could be saturating the front end of your NIC. Move further away. You might get better performance.

__________________
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Thank you.

rbowers

ItsNotMe,
I tried searching for keywords looking for reasons that may be causing my problems -- on google, here, and other places.
Usualy, picking the "right" phrase helps but it is sometimes elusive. I hadn't thought of "neighborhood". Thank you. I'll try that.
What is "WZC"?
Yes, my SSID is different than any others around me, AFAIK.

~Rick

wrzwaldo

Search!

http://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+WZC

rbowers

Okay, I did a search on (all) the forums here for "Neighborhood" and got back a ton of posts. Browsing through many of them show that none of them discuss the problems I'm having. So I tried "Windows Setup Neighborhood" and got back 5 posts, none of which are related to my problems. What is the "magic word" I should use?

In my original post, I stated "Using the Belkin wireless utility, I see the router, and I only configure my own APs, but still I connect to the neighbor."
I realize this is vague. What I meant was:
The utility lists a set of "Available networks" -- those that my wireless client can see. In order to use one of these networks, I need to [configure] it. At that point, the network name gets populated below in the "Preferred networks" list. What I meant to say was I DID configure my own AP, but DID NOT configure the neighbor's AP. Yet, still, I get connected to the neighbor, not my own network.

I also went to the [Advanced] section and selected "Access Point (infrastructure) networks only" rather than "Any available network".

So, can someone help me out a bit and point me to a haystack, or even a hayfield to look in?
C'mon, this _is_ a Newbie forum. I wouldn't be asking if I could find the answer myself. I'm not a computer newbie. I'm not a networking newbie. But I'm somewhat new to wireless ... and to this forum.

Thanks, all.

~Rick

wrzwaldo

Is WZC disabled?

I replied to "What is WZC". The #1 return in google using "What is WZC" takes you to microsoft and tells you all about WZC.

SignalSeeker

If I remember the Belkin software defaults to connect to "any". Remove that profile and make one for the name of you AP with your WEP settings.

Justin

rbowers

SignalSeeker: Where are these "profiles"?

WrzWaldo: Yes, I received the link, went there, and read the contents of search #1. I've done all those things. In detail, here are my comments:

How Wireless Auto Configuration Works
For the initial scan of available networks, Wireless Auto Configuration performs the following process:

1. Wireless Auto Configuration attempts to connect to the preferred networks in the list of available networks, in the preferred networks preference order.
My Available networks:
casey
Bourne
Sagamore
flamingo
RadioFlyer
Wifi
My preferred networks:
Sagamore
Bourne
What gets connected
Wifi
My "problem"
?Why am I connecting to Wifi, and not Sagamore or Bourne??

2. If there are no successful connections, Wireless Auto Configuration attempts to connect to the preferred networks that do not appear in the list of available networks, in the preferred networks preference order.

3. If there are no successful connections and there is an ad hoc network in the list of preferred networks that is available, Wireless Auto Configuration tries to connect to it.

4. If there are no successful connections and there is an ad hoc network in the list of preferred networks that is not available, Wireless Auto Configuration configures the wireless network adapter to act as the first node in the ad hoc network.

5. If there are no successful connections to preferred networks and there are no ad hoc networks in the list of preferred networks, Wireless Auto Configuration determines the Automatically connect to non-preferred networks setting.

6. If Automatically connect to non-preferred networks is enabled, Wireless Auto Configuration attempts to connect to the available networks the order in which they were sensed by the wireless adapter. If all connection attempts fail, Wireless Auto Configuration creates a random network name and places the wireless network adapter in infrastructure mode. After this, the wireless adapter is not connected to any wireless network but continues to scan for preferred wireless networks every 60 seconds. This behavior prevents the Windows XP wireless client from accidentally connecting to a wireless network that does not appear in the list of preferred networks. You are then prompted with the "One or more wireless networks are available" message in the notification area.

7. If Automatically connect to non-preferred networks is disabled, Wireless Auto Configuration creates a random network name and places the wireless network adapter in infrastructure mode. You are then prompted with the "One or more wireless networks are available" message in the notification area.

wrzwaldo

From your first post...

What do you mean by "configure my own APs"? Do you mean you created profiles in the CM for them?



Then in your 4th post...

AFAIK? Did NS show other networks in your area with the same SSID?


So now you have...

1. The same SSID in your CM profile as your AP

and

2. Have disabled WZC

?



From post #9

1. WZC is running and farking with you

or

2. You have created the profiles for your APs in the CM but are actually using the default profile

rbowers

I don't know how you do the quoting from other posts, but ...

What do you mean by "configure my own APs"? Do you mean you created profiles in the CM for them?
I clarified this in my 3rd post -- but what is CM (Configuration Manager)?


AFAIK? Did NS show other networks in your area with the same SSID?
No, there are no duplicates that show up in NetStumbler, but I was allowing for a margin of error


So now you have...

1. The same SSID in your CM profile as your AP
I suppose so, yes


and

2. Have disabled WZC

? Not yet



1. WZC is running and farking with you
Possibly, I'll see if I can disable it

or

2. You have created the profiles for your APs in the CM but are actually using the default profile
In my previous post I asked where these "profiles" live. How do I know if I'm using a default or one I created?

wrzwaldo

(1) Not really but okay...

(2) What margin of error? It's either there is or isn't!

(3) Either they are or they are not... I suppose??? WTF kind of answer is that?

(4) Why not? It has been mentioned a couple time now!

(5) Yes it can be disabled, and shoould be if you are using a 3rd party CM!!!

(6) Time for you to RTFM!

rbowers

(1) Not really but okay...
If you are going to rely on acronyms/abbreviations in your replies, it would be helpful if you could define them (for us "newbies")

(2) What margin of error? It's either there is or isn't!
NetStumbler doesn't show any other SSIDs. Since I didn't write it, I can't be sure it's seeing/reporting them all, can I?

(3) Either they are or they are not... I suppose??? WTF kind of answer is that?
Since I don't know what CM stands for, I can't very well state for certain that I've complied, can I? I assume I have. Again, WTF is CM?

(4) Why not? It has been mentioned a couple time now!
I haven't been on that PC today. I'm trying to assimilate all the responses I've gotten, and trying to figure out the abbreviations people are using here

(5) Yes it can be disabled, and shoould be if you are using a 3rd party CM!!!
Okay

(6) Time for you to RTFM!
Point me to the FM and I'll be more than happy to read it

I've provided help in other forums and, especially in newbie (noob) forums, I take pains not to use abbreviations, or at least not the first mention in a given post. Note that I have never referred to NetStumbler as NS in _any_ of my posts.

I don't mean to me snippy here. I appreciate everyone's responses and their time. I'm really frustrated by this problem and when I get replies that contain cryptic information I don't understand, it makes things even more frustrating.

Thank you. I am making forward progress and learning this WiFi stuff.

<
~Rick

rbowers

My Wireless Zero Configuration _is_ disabled

ShadowFX

Do you know how to subscribe to a News Group? If so you may want to subscribe to

microsoft.public.windows.networking.wireless

They are a lot more tolerant than here.